Indian woman arrested for marrying ’17-year-old’

Police in the Indian city of Mumbai have arrested a 20-year-old woman for marrying a 17-year-old boy.

The woman and the couple’s five-month-old daughter have been in prison for the past fortnight.

She was arrested after the teenager’s mother lodged a police complaint. She has been charged under the stringent child sex abuse act.

The woman says their relationship is consensual, and also contests the claim that her husband is underage.

Although the age of consent for sex in India for all genders is 18, the legal age for marriage is 18 years for women and 21 years for men.

So in this case, police have also charged the woman under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.

The teenager’s mother registered a complaint with the police in December last year accusing the woman and her family of kidnapping her son and forcing him into marriage, a Mumbai police official told BBC Hindi.